Guitar Hero Rocks Out on the iPhone at Last

Guitar Hero iPhone

Guitar Hero [rating: 4.5/5]

So today was all about iPhone 4 the latest version of the phenomenon that is Apple’s smartphone. However for me the new features in their latest release wasn’t the amazing part of Steve Jobs announcement speech, no, instead it was the unbelievable news that after all this time Guitar Hero for iPhone is only now available in the App Store.

Guitar Hero iPhoneGuitar Hero for iPhone has been one of the biggest, if not the biggest, rhythm style games of recent years and it’s been available on almost every platform since day one, and now their dominance is complete as it arrives for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

The first thing I noticed when downloading Guitar Hero from the App Store was the price, major releases such as this are usually $5 at least but Guitar Hero (GH) comes in at a rather surprisingly low $2.99. However after seeing that you only get 6 songs for your $3 it’s clear to see that this price point is to get you in and then earn more money from in app purchases of new songs. GH aren’t the first to do this however and the six included songs are pretty good too. They are:-

  • Weezer – Say It Ain’t So
  • The Rolling Stones – Paint It Black
  • Queen – We Are The Champions
  • Rise Against – Savior
  • Vampire Weekend – Cousins
  • The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army

The games looks and feels as sophisticated as you would expect from a franchise as big as Guitar Hero. The menu’s are sleek and stylish and the in game graphics are sharp and sparkling too. And while for many the help screens won’t ever be viewed if you do delve into them you will find them to be completed and detailed.

The game plays as you would expect sit the notes traveling down the screen where you must tap them as they flow over the note catcher. They have added a few tweaks though, for example as well as the standard notes that you tap individually or together as chords there are also notes that you have to strum, hold and slide between which adds a nice variety to the standard game play.

Guitar Hero iPhone_2As you would expects the more consistent you are the bigger the rewards with Star Power boosting your score for a small time or until you miss a note of course.

A lot of information as been provided in game and it’s well presented to ensure that you can see everything you need without it being cluttered. Your current score is displayed in the top right corner with your current star rating displayed to the left of that. Just below you can see how much of the song is left and what percentage of notes you’ve hit so far. While down each side of the guitars neck is multiplier and star power meter.

Although there are only 6 songs included in the initial price there is a lot of other content included. For example there are 260 challenges to be completed based on the songs, the guitar or the bass. You can easily navigate the challenges too so that you can both what you need to do to unlock them and also what you gain by completing them.

The rewards for your success are predominantly based around unlocking new items for your rock star character which you can customize for using in game and showing off via the Facebook integration.

Guitar Hero iPhone_1The game is a single player game only but there are online leader boards as well as the ability to post your best scores on Facebook. A local or even online two player mode would have been nice though so that two players could join forces and rock the house down together.

The game did crash a couple of times on my 2g iPod Touch but that was over multiple hours worth of game play so it wasn’t too much of a hassle.

Overall Guitar Hero is a welcome edition to the App Store, it doesn’t add a great deal more to the genre but what it does it does well and with your headphones plugged in and the volume cranked up you’ll enjoy rocking out with the best of them.

Pros

  • Great looking interface
  • 260 challenges!
  • Quality songs and more to purchase

Cons

  • A couple of crashes
  • Only 6 songs for $3

Price: $2.99 (iTunes Store)
Category: Games
Released: Jun 07, 2010
Reviewed Version: 0.1.0
Size: 106 MB
Language: English
Seller: Activision Publishing, Inc.
© Activision Publishing, Inc.
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

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